Determination device, determination method, and non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing determining program

ABSTRACT

A determination device that determines a tendency of a driver who selects a parking space includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire information regarding an attribute of the parking space in a parking lot, information regarding behavior of a vehicle driven by the driver in the parking lot, and information regarding behavior of the driver when the driver is driving the vehicle in the parking lot, and a determination unit configured to determine the tendency of the driver when the driver selects the parking space, based on the information regarding the behavior of the vehicle or the information regarding the behavior of the driver and the information regarding the attribute of the parking space.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/245,876 filed on Jan. 11, 2019, which claimspriority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2018-003594 filed on Jan.12, 2018, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety including the specification, drawings and abstract.

BACKGROUND 1. Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a determination device, adetermination method, and a non-transitory computer readable storagemedium for storing a determining program that executes the determinationmethod.

2. Description of Related Art

An information processor capable of determining whether or not a parkinglot is full based on a change in the speed of a vehicle in the peripheryof the parking lot and outputting the determination result to anotherdevice is disclosed (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent ApplicationPublication No. 2015-184820 (JP 2015-184820 A)). In JP 2015-184820, asan example of a method of determining whether or not a parking lot isfull, a technique for grasping a change in the speed of the vehicle inthe periphery of the parking lot by using probe data collected fromrespective vehicles, and determining that the parking lot is full whenthe change in the speed of the vehicle satisfies a predeterminedcondition (for example, the vehicle transitions from a deceleratingstate to an accelerating state in front of the parking lot) and thevehicle has passed the parking lot is disclosed.

SUMMARY

If a tendency of a driver to stop his/her vehicle in a parking lot, thatis, in what area in the parking lot the driver tends to park his/hervehicle (a tendency of the driver when selecting a parking space) can begrasped, for example, when the vehicle is guided to a parking space inthe parking lot by a navigation system or the like, it can beconceivable that the guidance is performed according to the tendency ofthe driver. For example, when a driver tends to park his/her vehicle ina parking space where both right and left sides are empty for reasonssuch as anxiety of driving and the like, the navigation system can guidethe vehicle to the parking space around which there is no other vehicleparked. However, since the technique disclosed in JP 2015-184820 is justthe technique for determining whether the parking lot is full, it cannotgrasp the tendency of the driver when the driver selects the parkingspace.

The present disclosure provides a technique capable of determining atendency of a driver when the driver selects a parking space.

A first aspect of the disclosure relates to a determination device thatdetermines a tendency of a driver who selects a parking space. Thedetermination device includes an acquisition unit configured to acquireinformation regarding an attribute of a parking space in a parking lot,information regarding behavior of a vehicle driven by the driver in theparking lot, and information regarding behavior of the driver when thedriver is driving the vehicle in the parking lot and a determinationunit configured to determine the tendency of the driver when the driverselects the parking space based on the information regarding theattribute of the parking space and at least one of the informationregarding the behavior of the vehicle or the information regarding thebehavior of the driver.

In the determination device according to the first aspect, theinformation regarding the attribute of the parking space may include atleast one of information indicating a feature related to a structure ofthe parking space or information regarding a parking situation ofanother vehicle in the parking space.

In the determination device according to the first aspect, theinformation regarding the behavior of the vehicle may include at leastinformation regarding a vehicle speed of the vehicle, and thedetermination unit may be configured to determine the tendency of thedriver when the driver selects the parking space based on at least theinformation regarding the vehicle speed of the vehicle driven by thedriver.

In the determination device according to the first aspect, theinformation regarding the behavior of the driver may include at leastinformation regarding movement of a line of sight of the driver, and thedetermination unit may be configured to determine the tendency of thedriver when the driver selects the parking space, based on at least theinformation regarding the movement of the line of sight of the driver.

In the determination device according to the first aspect, theinformation regarding the behavior of the driver may include at leastinformation regarding utterances given by the driver during driving inthe parking lot, and the determination unit may be configured todetermine the tendency of the driver when the driver selects the parkingspace, based on at least the information regarding the utterances givenby the driver during driving in the parking lot.

A second aspect of the disclosure relates to a method of determining atendency of a driver who selects a parking space. The method includesacquiring information regarding an attribute of a parking space in aparking lot, information regarding behavior of a vehicle driven by thedriver in the parking lot, and information regarding behavior of thedriver when the driver is driving the vehicle in the parking lot; anddetermining the tendency of the driver when the driver selects theparking space, based on the information regarding the attribute of theparking space and at least one of the information regarding the behaviorof the vehicle or the information regarding the behavior of the driver.

A third aspect of the disclosure relates to a non-transitory computerreadable storage medium for storing a program that executes a method ofdetermining a tendency of a driver who selects a parking space. Themethod includes acquiring information regarding an attribute of aparking space in a parking lot, information regarding behavior of avehicle driven by the driver in the parking lot, and informationregarding behavior of the driver when the driver is driving the vehiclein the parking lot; and determining the tendency of the driver when thedriver selects the parking space, based on the information regarding theattribute of the parking space and at least one of the informationregarding the behavior of the vehicle or the information regarding thebehavior of the driver.

According to the aspects described above, it is possible to provide atechnique capable of determining a tendency of a driver when the driverselects a parking space.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features, advantages, and technical and industrial significance ofexemplary embodiments will be described below with reference to theaccompanying drawings, in which like numerals denote like elements, andwherein:

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an example of a determination systemaccording to a present embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional blockconfiguration of a server according to the present embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional blockconfiguration of an on-vehicle device according to the presentembodiment;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedurefor determining tendency of a driver when the driver selects a parkingspace;

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating information regarding an attribute of theparking space; and

FIG. 6 is a table showing an example of determining conditions fordetermining the tendency of the driver when the driver selects a parkingspace.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

With reference to accompanying drawings, embodiments will be described.Throughout the drawings, those denoted by the same reference numeralhave the same or similar configuration.

System Configuration

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating an example of a determination system 1according to a present embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 1 , thedetermination system 1 includes a server 10 and vehicles 20. Althoughthe determination system 1 is assumed to include a plurality of vehicles20, there may be one vehicle 20 in the determination system.

The server 10 determines a tendency (preference) when a driver selects aparking space in a parking lot using information regarding behavior ofthe driver and information regarding behavior of the vehicle 20collected from the vehicle 20, and information regarding an attribute ofthe parking space in the parking lot.

The information regarding the behavior of the vehicle 20 includes atleast information indicating the vehicle speed, the traveling location,or the like of the vehicle 20, and time information (time stamp). Theserver 10 that has received the information regarding the behavior ofthe vehicle 20 can grasp behaviors made by the vehicle 20 in the parkinglot in chronological order.

The information regarding the behavior of the driver includesinformation indicating the motion of the driver and time information(time stamp). The server 10 that has received the information regardingthe behavior of the driver can grasp behaviors made by the driver who isdriving the vehicle 20 in the parking lot in a time series. Examples ofthe motion of the driver include a line of sight of the driver whiledriving (including the position of the line of sight, the direction ofthe line of sight, the movement of the line of sight, and the change ofthe line of sight), utterances given by the driver while driving, or thelike.

The information indicating the attribute of the parking space isinformation indicating what attribute each parking space in the parkinglot has. Examples of the attribute of the parking space include afeature related to a structure of the parking space such as whether ornot the parking space is located close to the doorway of a store,whether or not the parking space is located close to the gateway of theparking lot, whether or not the parking space has a roof, whether or notthe parking space is located in a shady spot, whether or not the parkingspace is located at the edge spot of the parking lot, whether or not theparking space is specialized for a specific application (for example,for the disabled, for electric charging, or the like), and a parkingsituation of other vehicles in the parking space such as whether or notanother vehicle is parked on the right or left or around the parkingspace in which the vehicle 20 is parked. The parking space may be thespace for just one vehicle 20, or may be a space large enough to parkthe vehicles 20.

The vehicle 20 may be any vehicle that can be parked at least in theparking lot, but in the present embodiment, a case where the vehicle 20is a car will be described as an example. However, the presentembodiment is not limited thereto, and can be applied to any vehicle 20,such as a motorcycle, if the vehicle can be parked in the parking lot.The vehicle 20 includes a sensor for detecting the behavior of thevehicle 20, a sensor for detecting the behavior of the driver, a sensor(camera) for detecting an attribute of the parking space (particularly,whether or not another vehicle is parked in the parking space), and anon-vehicle device 30 connected to the sensors. The on-vehicle device 30transmits information regarding the behavior of the vehicle 20,information regarding the behavior of the driver and informationregarding the attribute of the parking space, which are detected by thesensors, to the server 10.

The information regarding the attribute of the parking space is notnecessarily transmitted from the vehicle 20 to the server 10.Specifically, instead of being transmitted from the vehicle 20 to theserver 10 (or in addition to being transmitted from the vehicle 20 tothe server 10), the information regarding the attribute may be generatedby a manager of the parking lot or the like, and stored in a storagedevice (such as database) in the server 10. For example, informationthat basically does not change, for example, information indicating aparking space close to the doorway of a store or information indicatingwhether or not the parking space has a roof, may be stored in advance inthe server 10. The information regarding the attribute of the parkingspace (for example, information indicating the presence or absence of aparked vehicle for each parking space) may be notified to the server 10from an information processor for managing the parking lot, or the likeand be stored on the storage device (such as database) in the server 10.

Examples of the sensor for detecting the behavior of the vehicle 20includes a vehicle speed sensor, a steering sensor, a position sensor,an acceleration sensor, a gyro sensor, and a sensor for detecting adirection indicator operation. As the sensor for detecting the behaviorof the driver, a camera (which may be a drive recorder) capable ofimaging the driver, a line of sight detection sensor, a microphone andthe like can be exemplified. Examples of the sensor for detecting theattribute of the parking space include a camera (which may be a driverecorder) for imaging the outside of the vehicle and a radar sensor.

Operation Overview

Next, an operation overview of the determination system 1 determiningthe tendency of the driver when the driver selects the parking space inthe parking lot will be described. In the parking lot shown in FIG. 1 ,it is assumed that the parking space P1 is the parking space locatedclose to the doorway of the store and the parking space P2 is theparking space around which there is no other vehicle parked. It is alsoassumed that the information regarding the attribute of the parkingspace (information indicating that the parking space P1 is the parkingspace located close to the doorway of the store and the parking space P2is the parking space around which there is no other vehicle parked) isstored in advance in the storage device of the server 10. The on-vehicledevice 30 transmits, to the server 10, the behavior of the vehicle 20 inthe parking lot (in this “Operation Overview” section, at leastincluding the position and speed of the vehicle 20) and the behavior ofthe driver (in the “Operation Overview” section, at least including theline of sight of the driver).

Here, examples of the behavior of the vehicle 20 and the behavior of thedriver between the point where the vehicle 20 enters the parking lot andthe point where the vehicle 20 is parked in the parking space will bealso described with reference to FIG. 1 . First, when the driver entersthe parking lot (S1), the driver drives the vehicle 20 to the parkingspace P1 at a relatively high vehicle speed (for example, 10 km/h ormore) so as to stop the vehicle 20 in the parking space P1 close to thedoorway of the store (S2). In this case, the driver drives while lookingforward, and movement of the line of sight of the driver is relativelysmall. Upon arrival at the parking space P1, the driver slows down (forexample, 3 to 4 km/h) while directing the line of sight toward theparking space P1 so as to search for an empty area in the parking spaceP1 (S3). If the driver finds the whole parking space P1 full, the driverdrives the vehicle 20 to another parking space (S4). In this case, thedriver slightly speeds up the vehicle 20 and drives the vehicle 20 whilereciprocating the line of sight to the right and to the left. Finally,the driver stops the vehicle 20 in the parking space P2. The vehicle 20notifies the server 10 of information indicating the above-describedbehavior between the point where the vehicle 20 enters the parking lotand the point where the vehicle 20 is parked in the parking space.

When the vehicle 20 and the driver exhibits the above-describedbehaviors, the server 10 can determine the tendency of the driver whenthe driver selects the parking space, for example, in the proceduredescribed below. For example, the server 10 determines that the driverhas the tendency to park his/her vehicle in the parking space having thepredetermined attribute when the vehicle speed between the point whenthe vehicle 20 enters the parking lot and the point when the vehicle 20first starts to slow down is equal to greater than a predetermined speed(for example, 7 km/h), the movement of the line of sight of the driveris relatively small between the point where the vehicle 20 enters theparking lot and the point where the vehicle 20 first starts to slowdown, and the line of sight of the driver is directed to the parkingspace having a predetermined attribute during moving slowly (forexample, 5 km/h or less). In the example of FIG. 1 , the driver drivesthe vehicle 20 to the parking space P1 at a relatively high speed so asto stop the vehicle 20 in the parking space P1 located close to thedoorway of the store, the movement of the line of sight of the driver isrelatively small, and the line of sight of the driver during movingslowly is directed to the parking space P1 (parking space having theattribute of being located close to the doorway of the store). From theabove, the server 10 determines that the driver has the tendency toselect the parking space located close to the doorway of the store.

In the example of FIG. 1 , the driver finally stops the vehicle 20 inthe parking space P2, not in the parking space P1. Therefore, the server10 may determine that the driver has the tendency to select the parkingspace located close to the doorway of the store as the parking spacehaving the highest priority, and when the parking space located close tothe doorway of the store is full, the driver has the tendency to selectthe parking space around which there is no other vehicle parked.

Functional Block Configuration

Server

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional blockconfiguration of the server 10 according to the present embodiment. Theserver 10 includes a communication unit 101, an acquisition unit 102, adetermination unit 103, and a storage unit 104. The communication unit101, the acquisition unit 102 and the determination unit 103 can beimplemented by executing a program (e.g., a determining program) storedin a memory by a central processing unit (CPU) provided in the server10. The program can be stored in a storage medium. The storage mediumstoring the program may be a non-transitory computer readable storagemedium. The non-transitory storage medium is not particularly limited,but it may be storage medium such as a universal serial bus (USB) memoryor a compact disc read only memory (CD-ROM). The storage unit 104 may beimplemented using a storage device such as a memory provided in theserver 10, a hard disk drive (HDD), or the like. The storage unit 104stores vehicle behavior information including the information regardingthe behavior of the vehicle 20, driver behavior information includingthe information regarding the behavior of the driver, and parking lotinformation including the information regarding the attribute of theparking space. In the parking lot information, the information regardingthe attribute of the parking space may be included in one parking lot orfor each of a plurality of parking lots under management of the server10.

The communication unit 101 has a function of communicating with eachvehicle 20, and receives, from the vehicle 20, the information regardingthe behavior of the vehicle 20 and the information regarding thebehavior of the driver. The communication unit 101 may further receivethe information regarding the attribute of the parking space from thevehicle 20. The communication unit 101 allows the information regardingthe behavior of the vehicle 20 and the information regarding thebehavior of the driver, which are received from the vehicle 20, to beincluded in the vehicle behavior information and the driver behaviorinformation, respectively. The communication unit 101 allows theinformation regarding the attribute of the parking space received fromthe vehicle 20 to be included in the parking lot information. Thecommunication unit 101 may communicate with an external informationprocessing device, and allow the information regarding the attribute ofthe parking space received from the information processing device to beincluded in the parking lot information.

The acquisition unit 102 acquires the information regarding theattribute of the parking space in the parking lot, the informationregarding the behavior of the vehicle 20 that the driver is driving inthe parking lot, and the information regarding the behavior of thedriver when the driver is driving the vehicle 20 in the parking lot,from the parking lot information, the vehicle behavior information andthe driver behavior information, which are stored in the storage unit104, respectively.

The determination unit 103 determines the tendency of the driver whenthe driver selects the parking space, based on the information regardingthe attribute of the parking space, and at least one of the informationregarding the behavior of the vehicle 20 or the information regardingthe behavior of the driver. For example, the determination unit 103 maydetermine the tendency of the driver when the driver selects the parkingspace, based on at least information regarding the vehicle speed of thevehicle 20 as the information regarding the behavior of the vehicle 20.The determination unit 103 may determine the tendency of the driver whenthe driver selects the parking space, based on at least informationregarding the line of sight of the driver as the information regardingthe behavior of the driver. The determination unit 103 may determine thetendency of the driver when the driver selects the parking space, basedon at least information regarding utterances given by the driver whiledriving in the parking lot as the information regarding the behavior ofthe driver.

On-Vehicle Device

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a functional blockconfiguration of the on-vehicle device 30 according to the presentembodiment. The on-vehicle device 30 includes a collection unit 301, ageneration unit 302, and a communication unit 303. The collection unit301, the generation unit 302, and the communication unit 303 can beimplemented by executing a program stored in a memory by a CPU providedin the on-vehicle device 30. The program can be stored in a storagemedium. The storage medium storing the program may be a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium. The non-transitory computer readablestorage medium is not particularly limited, but it may be a storagemedium such as a USB memory or a CD-ROM.

The collection unit 301 collects data measured by various sensorsmounted on the vehicle 20. The generation unit 302 analyses andprocesses the data measured by the sensors and then collected by thecollection unit 301 to generate the information regarding the behaviorof the vehicle 20, the information regarding the behavior of the driver,and the information regarding the attribute of the parking space, whichare to be transmitted to the server 10.

The communication unit 303 transmits, to the server 10, the informationregarding the behavior of the vehicle 20, the information regarding thebehavior of the driver, and the information regarding the attribute ofthe parking space, which are generated by the generation unit 302.

Processing Procedure

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedurefor determining the tendency of the driver when the driver selects theparking space. The following processing procedure will be describedunder the assumption that the driver of a determination object and theparking lot of a determination object have already been determined.

In step S101, the acquisition unit 102 acquires, from the vehiclebehavior information stored in the storage unit 104, the informationregarding the behavior of the vehicle 20 when the vehicle 20 driven bythe driver of the determination object uses the parking lot of thedetermination object. The acquired information regarding the behavior ofthe vehicle 20 includes pieces of information indicating the route onwhich the vehicle 20 has travelled in the parking lot and informationindicating the vehicle speed and the time on the route. The server 10can recognize how the vehicle 20 has travelled in the parking lot byarranging the pieces of information described above in chronologicalorder.

In step S102, the acquisition unit 102 acquires, from the driverinformation stored in the storage unit 104, the information regardingthe behavior of the driver when the driver of the determination objectuses the parking lot of the determination object. The acquiredinformation regarding the behavior of the driver includes pieces ofinformation indicating the line of sight of the driver while driving thevehicle 20 in the parking lot, information indicating the utterancesgiven by the driver, and time information. The server 10 can recognizein which direction and at which place the driver has looked as thedriver was driving in the parking lot by arranging the pieces ofinformation described above in chronological order.

In step S103, the acquisition unit 102 acquires, from the parking lotinformation stored in the storage unit 104, the information regardingthe attribute of the parking space in the parking lot of thedetermination object. Here, a specific example of the informationregarding the attribute of the parking space will be described withreference to FIG. 5 . In the parking lot illustrated in FIG. 5 , parkingspaces A1 to A30, parking spaces B1 to B30, and parking spaces C1 to C30exist. Among the aforementioned parking spaces, it is assumed that theparking spaces A1 to A14 are parking spaces located close to the doorwayof the store, the parking spaces C1 to C14 are the parking spaces thathave the roof, and the parking spaces B25 to B30 are the parking spaceslocated close to the gateway of the parking lot. In this case, theinformation regarding the attribute of the parking space in the parkinglot in FIG. 5 includes information indicating the parking spaces A1 toA14 are parking spaces located close to the doorway of the store, theparking spaces C1 to C14 are parking spaces that have the roof, and theparking spaces B25 to B30 are parking spaces located close to thegateway of the parking lot. In addition, determination of which parkingspace has what kind of attribute (such as ranges of parking spaceslocated close to the doorway of the store and the gateway of the parkinglot) may be made by the manager of the parking lot, and the result ofthe determination may be included in the parking lot information.

In step S104, the determination unit 103 determines the tendency of thedriver when the driver selects the parking space, using the informationregarding the behavior of the vehicle 20, the information regarding thebehavior of the driver, and the information regarding the attribute ofthe parking space, which are acquired in steps S101 to S103. Inaddition, the determination unit 103 determines the tendency of thedriver when the driver selects the parking space, using just any one ofthe information regarding the behavior of the vehicle 20 and theinformation regarding the behavior of the driver, instead of using bothof them.

Specific Example of Method of Determining

FIG. 6 is a table showing an example of determining conditions fordetermining the tendency of the driver when the driver selects a parkingspace. A specific example that the determination unit 103 determines thetendency of the driver when the driver selects the parking space will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 6 .

As shown in FIG. 6 , the determination unit 103 may determine thetendency of the driver when the driver selects the parking space, bystoring in advance the determining conditions for determining thetendency for the driver to select the parking space and determining,among the determining conditions, which determining condition meets theacquired behaviors of the vehicle 20 and the driver, and the attributeof the parking space. For example, in the example of FIG. 6 , when thedetermination unit 103 determines that determining condition 1 ordetermining condition 2 is met, the determination unit 103 determinesthat the driver has the tendency to select the parking space locatedclose to the doorway of the store. When the determination unit 103determines that determining condition 3 or determining condition 4 ismet, the determination unit 103 determines that the driver has thetendency to select the parking space in a shady spot. When thedetermination unit 103 determines that determining condition 5 is met,the determination unit 103 determines that the driver has the tendencyto select the parking space around which there is no other vehicleparked. Hereinafter, each determining condition will be described indetail below.

Determining Condition 1

When the average vehicle speed between the point where the vehicle 20enters the parking lot and the point where the vehicle 20 first startsto slow down is relatively high, movement of the line of sight of thedriver is relatively small until the vehicle 20 first starts to slowdown in the parking lot, and the line of sight of the driver is directedto the parking space located close to the doorway of the store in apredetermined period from the point where the vehicle 20 first starts toslow down, the determination unit 103 determines that the driver has thetendency to select the parking space located close to the doorway of thestore.

The determination unit 103 may calculate the average vehicle speedbetween the point where the vehicle 20 enters the parking lot and thepoint where the vehicle 20 first starts to slow down by usinginformation indicating the vehicle speed and the position of the vehicle20, and determine that the average vehicle speed between the point wherethe vehicle 20 enters the parking lot and the point where the vehicle 20first starts to slow down is high when the calculated average vehiclespeed is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. Thedetermination unit 103 may consider the point where the vehicle speed ofthe vehicle 20 entering the parking lot is first reduced to or below apredetermined threshold as the point where the vehicle 20 first startsto slow down.

When the direction of the line of sight of the driver between the pointwhere the vehicle 20 enters the parking lot and the point where thevehicle 20 first starts to slow down is within a predetermined range ofangle, the determination unit 103 may determine that the movement of theline of sight of the driver until the vehicle 20 first starts to slowdown in the parking lot is relatively small.

The determination unit 103 may identify the parking space existing inthe direction of the line of sight of the driver in a predeterminedperiod (for example, ten seconds) from the point where the vehicle 20first starts to slow down, by collating the position of the vehicle 20in the predetermined period and the direction of the line of sight ofthe driver in the predetermined period with map information indicatingthe position of each parking space existing in the parking lot. Thedetermination unit 103 may acquire the attribute of the identifiedparking space from the parking lot information, and determine that theline of sight of the driver is directed to the parking space locatedclose to the doorway of the store when the acquired attribute of theparking space is one of the parking space located close to the doorwayof the store.

Determining Condition 2

When the driver gives utterance to preference regarding the parkingspace before the driver parks the vehicle 20 in the parking space andthe parking space in which the vehicle 20 is parked is the parking spacelocated close to the doorway of the store, the determination unit 103determines that the driver has the tendency to select the parking spacelocated close to the doorway of the store.

When the utterance to the preference regarding the parking space existsamong the utterances given by the driver between the time when thedriver parks the vehicle 20 in the parking space and the time before apredetermined period (for example, 30 seconds ago), the determinationunit 103 may determine that the driver has given utterance to thepreference regarding the parking space before the driver parks thevehicle in the parking space. Examples of the utterance to thepreference regarding the parking space include “it is good to be empty,”“this is better”, “lucky” or the like.

Determining Condition 3

In determining condition 3, ‘the parking space located close to thedoorway of the store” in determining condition 1 is replaced by ‘theparking space located in a shady spot’, and thus the description thereofwill not be repeated.

Determining Condition 4

In determining condition 4 ‘the parking space located close to thedoorway of the store” in determining condition 2 is replaced by ‘theparking space located in a shady spot’, and thus the description thereofwill not be repeated.

Determining Condition 5

When the movement of the line of sight of the driver between the pointwhere the vehicle 20 enters the parking lot and the point where thevehicle 20 is parked is relatively large, and there is no other vehicleparked on the right and left sides of the parking space where thevehicle 20 is parked, the determination unit 103 determines that thedriver has the tendency to select an empty parking space (around whichthere is no other vehicle parked).

When the direction of the line of sight of the driver between the pointwhere the vehicle 20 enters the parking lot and the point where thevehicle 20 first starts to slow down changes over a predetermined rangeof angle, the determination unit 103 may determine that the movement ofthe line of sight of the driver between the point where the vehicle 20enters the parking lot and the point where the vehicle 20 is parked isrelatively large.

The generation unit 302 of the on-vehicle device 30 may determinewhether or not another vehicle is parked in the right and left parkingspaces of the parking space by using an image that is captured by asensor (camera) mounted in the vehicle 20. The communication unit 303 ofthe on-vehicle device 30 may transmit, to the server 10, the result ofthe determining, as the information regarding the attribute of theparking space. Alternatively, the communication unit 303 of theon-vehicle device 30 may transmit, to the server 10, the captured imageas the information regarding the attribute of the parking space, and thedetermination unit 103 of the server 10 may determine whether or notanother vehicle is parked on the right and left side of the vehicle 20by using the received image.

Supplementary Matter

The determining conditions described above are merely examples, and thepresent embodiment is not intended to be limited to the followingdetermining conditions. For example, in determining condition 1, “theparking space located close to the doorway of a store” can be replacedwith “the parking space at the gateway of the parking lot”, “the parkingspace that has a roof”, “the parking space for the disabled”, “theparking space where a charging station is installed”, or the like, whichmakes the determination unit 103 possible to determine varioustendencies when the driver selects the parking space in various ways.

As a modification example of determining condition 1, the determinationunit 103 may determine that, when the average vehicle speed between thepoint where the vehicle 20 enters the parking lot and the point wherethe vehicle 20 first starts to slow down is relatively fast, and theparking space in which the vehicle 20 is parked is the parking spacelocated close to the doorway of the store, the driver has a tendency toselect the parking space located close to the doorway of the store. Thesame goes for determining condition 3.

Furthermore, in determining condition 1, a condition that the driverutters a preference of the parking space while driving slowly may beadded. Examples of the utterance include “the parking space isn't empty”and “nice to be empty”.

When a plurality of determining conditions are met, the determinationunit 103 may determine which determining condition to follow accordingto the utterance given by the driver. For example, it is assumed thatthe driver drives the vehicle 20 to the parking space close to thedoorway of the store, but the parking space close to the doorway of thestore is full and gave up parking in the parking space close to thedoorway of the store, and stops the vehicle 20 in a parking spacelocated in a shady spot. Under the assumption, another assumption ismade that the driver uttered “it would be better” when the driver stopsthe vehicle 20 in the shady parking space. In this case, although bothdetermining condition 1 and determining condition 4 are met, thedetermination unit 103 may determine that the driver has the tendency toselect the shady parking space based on the utterance by the driver, “it(the shady parking space) would be better”.

Modification Example of Embodiment

In the present embodiment, the process of determining the tendency ofthe driver when the driver selects the parking space may be made by anon-vehicle device 30, instead of the server 10. In this case, theacquisition unit 102, the determination unit 103 and the storage unit104 included in the server 10 may be mounted on the on-vehicle device30. That is, the server 10 may be referred to as the “determinationdevice”, or the on-vehicle device 30 may be referred to as the“determination device”.

In the present embodiment, the term “unit” does not merely mean aphysical entity, but also means a function of the unit implemented bysoftware. In addition, the function performed by a unit or a device maybe implemented by two or more physical entities or devices and thefunction performed by two or more units or devices may be implemented byone physical entity or device.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of determining a tendency of a driverwho selects a parking space, the method comprising: storing, in advance,a plurality of determining conditions associated with a plurality ofparking spaces, wherein each determining condition comprises informationregarding an attribute of a parking space and information regardingbehavior of a vehicle driven by the driver; acquiring informationregarding an attribute of a parking space in a parking lot andinformation regarding behavior of a vehicle driven by the driver in theparking lot; determining which of the determining conditions meet theacquired information; determining the tendency of the driver when thedriver selects the parking space, based on the determination as to whichof the determining conditions meets the acquired information; andcausing the vehicle to travel to a parking space based on the determinedtendency of the driver.
 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein theinformation regarding the attribute of the parking space includes atleast one of information indicating a feature related to a structure ofthe parking space or information regarding a parking situation ofanother vehicle in the parking space.
 3. The method according to claim1, wherein: the information regarding the behavior of the vehicleincludes at least information regarding a vehicle speed of the vehicle;and the method further comprises determining the tendency of the driverwhen the driver selects the parking space, based on at least theinformation regarding the vehicle speed of the vehicle driven by thedriver.